It’s that time of year again, when fireworks light up our skies and PETA renews its calls to councils all over the country to switch to silent shows.
Until then, you can help us keep animals safe.
To dogs, cats, and other animals, New Year’s Eve may seem more like The War of the Worlds than a celebration. Noisy fireworks are frightening to animals, who don’t realise that the explosions are meant to be entertaining and aren’t a sign of danger.
After fireworks displays, animal shelters report an increased number of lost animal companions. Many of these animals panicked and ran away from their guardians, and some may even have jumped through closed windows to get away from the terrifying sounds.
Lucky animals are reunited with their families, but others aren’t, and some sustain serious injuries or even die from their attempts to escape from the noise. Many dogs and other animals arrive at shelters or veterinary clinics with their paws bloody from running, their skin scraped by tearing through gaps in wooden fences, and injuries sustained after dashing into roads and being hit by vehicles.
PETA’s recommended precautions to ensure the comfort and safety of their animal companions
- Keep cats and dogs indoors during fireworks displays, and if possible, stay with them.
- Leave your animals at home during the celebrations – never take them with you to watch fireworks displays.
- Never leave animals tethered or chained outside. They can hang themselves if they try to leap over a fence to escape the noise.
- Close your windows and curtains, and turn on a classical music radio station or the TV to help drown out the sound of the fireworks.
- Make sure that your animal companions are wearing collars or harnesses with up-to-date identification tags, just in case.
so are the Sight seeing Balloons with there whooshing sounds which scare domestic animals i.g. horses cows and native animals. Why should thousands of animals get scared for the pleasure of a few rich sight seers especially when they don’t obey aviation height rules and fly low over fields and suburbs. Yesterday we had three Balloons low over Brunswick and Ocean Shores
Stop frightening the hell out of animals just because you & The Premier can.
I do this every year, but nothing helps me, we even bought a hanging tree this year and the cat still climbs on it. I think that we just need to stop changing our interior for the new year and only then everything will be without incident. They also love our inflatable Santa Claus on the street and constantly run to mute and we already have a bunch of sealed holes on it. But thanks for the information, I have gathered some for myself and I will not do it next year! Thank you!